What brainiac decided that these would make good mascots for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games?
According to The Globe and Mail,
The cute figures are designed to resemble cartoon-like versions of a snowboarding sea bear (Miga), a sasquatch (Quatchi) and a winged “animal spirit” resembling both bear and bird (Sumi).
The Herald-Tribune offers a nice, simple explanation of exactly what these creatures are (if cross-bred endangered species and a sasquatch can be called simple at all):
Quatchi is a young sasquatch with a long brown beard and blue earmuffs, while Miga is a snowboarding sea-bear — part killer whale and part kermode bear. And Sumi is a spirit animal that flies with the wings of a native thunderbird. There’s even a sidekick: Mukmuk, a friendly Vancouver Island marmot
The brainchildren of Vancouver’s Meomi Design (please, oh please go check out their website; it’s beyond all belief!) these guys are nothing if not cute. But in a weird, disturbing, coulrophobic way.
Is it me? I’d love to bring these cuddlies home to my kids as toys, but mascots? For Vancouver/Whistler’s Olympic Games? Hmm.
Then again, here’s what Calgary barfed up for their 1988 gig as Winter Olympic Hosts. Meet Hidy and Howdy:
Uh…yeah. I guess that qualifies as a ” ’nuff said” moment, doesn’t it.
Oh. And I’d like to officially enter into the record that I came to Calgary a full TEN YEARS after the invention of Hidy and Howdy. I do not wish to be associated with said mascots in any way. Ever. At all.
Over and out…got a few other posts germinating; promise to get them up soon!
Filed under: huh?
So I’ve been cleaning up vomit for most of the day (2 sick little ones here) so my brain is a bit foggy. At first I thought those were the mascots for the Beijing Olympics, and thought “Oh, those crazy Chinese”, when really, it’s the Japanese who prefer silly animated creatures, and then I realized those are the VANCOUVER mascots. WTF??? Ridiculous. I completely agree with you, except that….
how can you say something bad about Heidi and Howdy? They are animals that are very symbolic of Canadian winter and their names and attire link them well to the city of Calgary, which until ‘88 was most famous for the Calgary Stampede. While not perfect mascot, at least they made sense!
Oh, and I checked out the Meomi Design website…now that’s scary! I’ve never petted a narwhal before…
Hidy and Howdy are HILARIOUS! Nothing like a good stereotype to base a mascot on.
As for the Vancouver ones, they are just confusing and not memorable AT ALL. As soon as I saw them on the news I thought “wha?”. I wouldn’t even buy a little stuffed one for my kids. I’ll stick to the zillionth webkinz.